Omega's Rebirth

Jian sat at his desk, reading through heaps of petitions and sending out orders every so often.

The ever dutiful Lord Rodrick stood beside Jian’s desk, sorting through the scrolls, sending out the orders and shelving those scrolls Jian had seen to.

It had only been a short time since Jian returned from Mount Edar at dawn and try as Jian might, his mind could not be completely focused on his work.

Not for the first time, Jian found his thoughts trailing back to the night before...to the scene he had walked into, a scene Jian was yet to make sense of.

’Am I to be furious? Displeased? Disappointed?’ Jian thought to himself. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

Truthfully, Jian was not certain how he was meant to feel...all he knew was that his thoughts kept straying and Jian did not appreciate it at all.

Jian quickly shook his head, returning his attention to the scroll in his hand before his thoughts could stray any further.

"My Liege, are you alright? You seem rather distracted today." Lord Rodrick asked in concern, noticing the short moment where Jian had spaced out.

"I am well, you need not be concerned." Jian replied blankly, writing down a short note on the scroll after reading it.

"Did something happen at Mount Edar?" Lord Rodrick asked again after a moment of quiet.

"Certainly not! What could possibly happen?!" Jian replied immediately, his tone catching Lord Rodrick off guard.

Realizing his overboard reaction, Jian sucked in a deep breath and shook his head slightly.

"All is well, Rodrick. I have not gotten a moment’s sleep in the past week and perhaps it has left a greater effect than I initially thought." Jian assured in a much calmer tone.

"Then My Liege should get some rest, at the least. Grant me permission to fetch Lord Everon, we cannot let it go on like this." Lord Rodrick pleaded.

Jian sighed, lifting a hand to rub his temple.

"I will retire to bed after seeing to these petitions. You may summon Everon then. If he hears of it now, he will make a fuss and prevent me from working on them." Jian gave in finally.

"Then I will fetch you some nectar, perhaps it will do you good." Lord Rodrick offered.

Jian hummed in response as he returned his attention to the scrolls, his gaze narrowed into a frown.

There was still no word from Fort Blazed and it was completely unlike Lord Starron and Lord Ranjor.

Jian was deeply concerned about it, but he could do nothing at the time. Jian had dispatched Decaron to Fort Blazed, and so they would receive word in a few days.

Until then, Jian could only await Decaron’s return but deep down, Jian truly had a bad feeling.

And then there was the affair of the White Dunes, Kaideon had already been in Dragon Keep for half a month and in this time, they had scoured the archives.

But there were too many volumes to cover, they were yet to discover anything that could give an inclination as to what the monster at the White Dunes was.

However Jian had sent a party lead by one of his most trusted Dragon guards to aid the dune dragons in Kaideon’s absence.

Again, Jian was burdened by this affair... anything that could send Kaideon running to Dragon Keep for aid was deeply concerning.

Yet this was another concern that required Jian to patiently await news.

So many things were happening all around the stronghold at the same time and even in his own keep...it was only now Jian realized it was quite a chore to be Dragon King.

"The dwarf king sends a petition demanding punishment on the wolf who attacked his soldiers. He claims these innocent soldiers are too terrified to step foot in Keep Skies again..." Jian read aloud, a single brow arched.

"If so, they know the girl is in our custody?" Lord Rodrick asked.

"No thanks to Menarx and Kaideon who made such a fuss in Maneward." Jian grumbled beneath his breath.

"The dwarves are yet to display any aggression or disloyalty, at least not openly. Hence the peace treaty still stands and they will not easily let go of this chance to corner us." Jian continued.

"What does My Liege intend to do? Lord Menarx would be displeased if the girl’s name is brought up." Lord Rodrick asked in concern.

"Menarx’s displeasure is one thing, whereas..." Jian began but trailed off as his mind again went back to the previous night.

"My Liege?" Lord Rodrick called when Jian did not speak even after a moment had passed.

"Never mind. The dwarf king and his demands be damned. No one makes demands of me...no one." Jian said in a dark tone.

"The dwarf king is most known for his cunningness. Should we be concerned that he would make a move against the girl?" Lord Rodrick asked.

"She only tried to protect a child. All within keep skies are under my protection, does he believe he shall get away with the stunt he pulled by casting blames first?" Jian asked with a scoff.

"I have given orders for the dragon guard to execute every last one of those cretins who laid a hand on the child. I am the one who ordered for their death, let him come at me then." Jian murmured, a menacing look in his eyes.

Lord Rodrick placed a goblet of nectar before Jian, saying nothing more.

Jian tossed the scroll aside before he took the goblet, rising up to his feet.

He had been sitting for hours and Jian intended to stretch his muscles for a moment before returning to work.

However the moment Jian rose to his feet, a piercing pain shot through his lower abdomen as though he had been stabbed and Jian’s eyes widened.

The pain was sudden and excruciating, yet Jian knew this pain was not his at all...

The goblet dropped out of his hand as Jian staggered backwards, his hand moving to clutch his abdomen as a quiet hiss of pain escaped him.

"My Liege... My Liege are you okay?!" Lord Rodrick asked in a panic.

"My brothers... one of them is hurt!" Jian hissed out as he grabbed his coat and dashed out of his quarters just as ominous bells began tolling across Dragon Keep.

______________

"Veah! Veah!" A familiar voice calling out to Neveah from far down the hall reached Neveah from where she lay on her bed,

Neveah was not sure how long it had been, the ache in her head had only grown worse and Neveah could not keep track of the passing time.

All she knew was that when it was the right time to head to the academy, Menarx would come fetch her and Neveah hoped to have gotten a hold of herself before then.

The backlash from the mate bond had dragged on much longer than Neveah expected but it had slowly begun fading off and that was the only reason Neveah had enough awareness to know she was being called.

"What could it be?" Neveah wondered, the voice sounded much like Davina.

But Neveah could not think of any reasons why Davina would yell out her name with such urgency.

Neveah was no longer an attendant and so she was not required to get up early or see to any chores, so what could anyone want from her at this time or the day?

Neveah groaned quietly, turning over on her bed. Her gaze moved to her door which burst open even before Neveah could sit up.

As the door came open, a panicked looking Davina barreled in, completely unlike her usually composed self.

"Veah! It’s Lord Menarx..." Davina began in a rush but trailed off when her eyes settled on Neveah.

Davina’s eyes widened the moment she noticed Neveah’s state and she hurried over.

"How do you look so pale?" Davina asked worriedly, arriving at Neveah’s bed side.

Davina reached a hand to Neveah’s forehead, hissing as she pulled her hand away immediately.

"Scales! You’re burning up! How long have you been like this?! Why didn’t you send for anyone?!" Davina exclaimed in panic as she made to move away, perhaps to fetch Lord Everon or someone.

In the light of Neveah’s state, Davina seemed to have forgotten what urgent news had brought her or perhaps she chose not to speak of it.

But Neveah had already heard Menarx’s name mentioned and so her hand shot out to grab Davina’s wrist, preventing Davina from moving away.

"Menarx... you were going to say something about Menarx...?" Neveah asked in a hoarse tone barely above a whisper.

Davina froze up at Neveah’s question, there was a grim expression on her face as her gaze settling on Neveah.

"Veah... I..." Davina stuttered out shakily.

Before Davina could say more, a haunting tolling sound echoed across the keep.

"Bells... tolling bells... Everon said it meant trouble... it meant a dragon...was harmed." Neveah stuttered out, recalling what Lord Everon had once said to her.

It was then it dawned on Neveah and her gaze moved to settle on Davina, whilst she shook her head in disbelief.

"No...no..." Neveah murmured but Davina’s expression only turned even more grim.

"W...word has it...Lord Menarx...on his return flight to the keep...he was shot out of the sky!" Davina revealed with a sob.